The present invention relates to a stationary hydrogen storage container.
Efforts to reduce carbon emissions as a byproduct of energy use have increased in recent years. The environmental benefits of alternatives to hydrocarbon and fossil fuel energy sources are frequently studied. One of these alternatives is known as fuel cell technology. Generally, fuel cell technology utilizes hydrogen as a fuel source and produces innocuous by-products such as water. A typical power generation process involves a proton exchange membrane (“PEM”) that combines hydrogen with oxygen from air under controlled pressure. Inside the fuel cell, hydrogen fuel on the anode side with the oxidant on the cathode side results in the production of electricity.
To promote use of fuel cell technology compressed hydrogen gas can be generated as needed which requires negligible storage space. Alternatively, hydrogen is stored for later use and may be distributed to other locations. For purposes of hydrogen storage, some tanks have been made of steel, aluminum, and thermoplastics and the tanks are sometimes wrapped with filament windings of carbon or glass fibers depending upon the maximum pressure under which the hydrogen is to be stored. However, as the fuel cell infrastructure has developed, these tanks have not provided the high capacity and low cost required for the common and regular use of hydrogen while consistently meeting pressure requirements. In particular, some structural metals, notably high-strength steels, become embrittled thus resulting in severely reduced fracture toughness following exposure to hydrogen. This process, known as hydrogen embrittlement, can take place as a result of the unintentional introduction of hydrogen into metals during the manufacturing processes (e.g., forming, finishing and welding) or the long-term exposure to compressed gaseous hydrogen (CGH2).
There remains a need for a hydrogen fueling infrastructure including, as a main part, a hydrogen storage component. The storage component is needed to be capable of housing bulk hydrogen in a low cost and reliable manner. Also there is a need for available stored hydrogen fuel to be available for applications such as refueling of vehicles and for utility load leveling using fuel cells.